


Fire and Flood

by romeoandjulietyouwish



Series: Everywhere You Roam [2]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Caleb Widogast Deserves Nice Things, Caleb Widogast Has Issues, Caleb Widogast Needs a Hug, Canon-Typical Violence, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Nightmares, Nott | Veth Brenatto's Backstory, Panic Attacks, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Protective Beauregard Lionett, Protective Nott | Veth Brenatto, read the first part of the series
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-06
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-12 17:41:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,362
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29888169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/romeoandjulietyouwish/pseuds/romeoandjulietyouwish
Summary: After Caleb joins up with the Mighty Nein, he becomes reacquainted with Nott and has difficulties concealing his past from her.
Relationships: Beauregard Lionett & Caleb Widogast, Fjord & Caleb Widogast, Jester Lavorre & Caleb Widogast, Nott | Veth Brenatto & Caleb Widogast, The Mighty Nein & Caleb Widogast
Series: Everywhere You Roam [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2134491
Comments: 9
Kudos: 45





	Fire and Flood

**Author's Note:**

> If you have not read the first part of this series, I highly recommend you do for some context. 
> 
> This fic picks up a few days after the last chapter of The Dusty Road. They're still called the Mighty Nein because I said so.

When Caleb was a little boy, he always found great solace in fire. It made him think of safety, of sitting before the fireplace while his mother braided back his hair or his father read him a story. It made him think of being home and warm and safe. At the Academy that perspective changed. He no longer saw fire as something comforting, but something dangerous. Deadly. He saw it used to hurt and destroy. He used it to hurt and destroy. 

But now, for the first time in a long while, his thoughts are quiet. As he stares into the gentle flames of the campfire, his thoughts are not of his past, but of his present. Of the new friends surrounding him with their crass jokes and loud personalities. 

He’s been traveling with this group, the Mighty Nein, for three days now. They have since left the Coast and are heading northwards towards Zadash. The half-orc, Fjord, told him that they have a meeting with a man called the Gentleman in a few weeks and that they’re planning on spending the time before the meeting taking a much-needed break in the small city. 

The journey from Nicodranas to Zadash is set to take nine days, plenty of time for Caleb to get to know all of his mother’s strange companions. 

Fjord scares Caleb a little. Though his mother said he is really very weak, Caleb can’t yet think of the man like that, not when he towers over Caleb like he does and commands the room with his charm. But so far he seems kind.

Beau seems alright to him. The first question she asked him when they met was could he fight. He replied yes, though he’d only been training for a few months. That seemed to be good enough for the monk because she just nodded and crossed her arms at him. She’s not been the most welcoming, but despite that, Caleb feels safe around her. 

Jester is by far the one that Caleb likes the most. On their first day of travel, she spent the entire time bombarding him with meaningless questions about his favorite color, if he knew how to swim, or where was the coolest place he’d ever been. After they showed each other some of their magic, he learned all about her god, the Traveller (and the group’s general distaste for the man). He enjoys her company (and she adores Frumpkin).

Caleb finds Caduceus a little unnerving. From the first moment they met, Caduceus has looked at Caleb with pity and kindness in his eyes. It seems that after only knowing him for a few days, Caduceus has read everything he needs to know about the boy clear across his face. 

Yasha is a complete mystery to Caleb. He knows very little about her, only that she’s from Xhorhas and Jester said she likes to collect flowers. The aasimar hasn’t said much of anything to Caleb and he finds that intimidating, not to mention her stature and the way she presents herself. 

And then there’s his mother. It’s been six years since he’s seen her and as he’s traveling with her it’s very apparent that just as he’s changed, so has she. She’s skittish, quick to draw her weapon on anyone in the group for any reason. Though she’s never drawn on Caleb, at least not yet. She swears a lot more too and seems hardened in a way she hadn’t been before.

The two of them haven’t talked about the time they were apart, but Caleb is just fine with that. He wants to put off his mother knowing how fucked up and broken he is as much as possible. He makes sure to keep his sleeves pulled down to his wrists and to calculate his reactions to Fjord and Beau’s shouting and deflect questions about his education. 

Despite the fact that she is his mother, Caleb can’t help but be wary of her. In all honesty, she’s nearly a stranger to him and she looks like one of the creatures that have been haunting his nightmares since he was a child. But sometimes she’ll look at him or say something and she’ll look like his mother again. It’s all very complicated, Caleb thinks. 

“Caleb!” Jester calls from the other side of the campfire. “Have you ever been on a boat?” 

“I can’t say I have,” Caleb says as he scoops a spoonful of Caduceus’s stew into his mouth. “Have you?” 

She nods, “We were pirates for a while!” 

Caleb turns to look at his mother who laughs and says, “She’s telling the truth. We stole a ship, met some pirates, won their boat after getting their captain killed-”

“Tried to free Fjord from a sea monster that wants his soul,” Beau adds. 

“Sunk an island.” 

“Fought underwater ghosts.” 

“Got banned from a pirate island.” 

“Set a boat on fire.” 

“What haven’t you done?” Caleb asks with a laugh. 

“Gotten a perm.” Beau runs her fingers through her long, dark hair. 

“Oh! Beau, you’d look good with a perm!” Jester says. Nott makes a noise of disagreement, as does Caduceus. “You don’t think so?” 

“I don’t think she has the balls,” Nott leans back. 

Beau narrows her eyes at the goblin. “Is that a challenge? If you give me twenty gold I’ll get a perm in Zadash.” 

“Deal!” Nott reaches out and shakes Beau’s hand as everyone, including Caleb, laughs.

When they settle down for the night, Caleb puts up the dome for everyone as he has for the past few nights. And, like the previous nights, he sets up his bed on the very edge of the dome with his mother between him and everyone else. Caleb sleeps on his back, too scared to put his back to the group or to the forest. 

He finds sleep difficult with so many people around him. At the Academy, they shared rooms until they turned twelve and even then he’d only had one roommate. Sleeping this close to six people is unnerving, he can hear everyone’s breathing as they fall asleep, every movement they make, and every whispered conversation. And with the bubble enclosing them, he can’t help but feel trapped. 

But he’s in no position to complain, so Caleb closes his eyes and wills himself to sleep, snapping Frumpkin to lay on his chest. 

In the morning, they set off again, to arrive in Trostenwald just before nightfall. As has become the routine, Jester sits across from Caleb, her legs crossed with her sketchbook in her lap. Nott sits to Caleb’s right, between him and Caduceus. Yasha takes the opposite corner of the cart to Caleb and Beau sits across from her. Fjord usually takes the responsibility of driving the cart and everyone takes turns sitting next to him. 

“We all met in Trostenwald,” Nott tells him around midday. “At the Nestled Nook Inn. We all went to the circus together and fought a frog creature. After that, it was obvious that we worked well together. We’ve been together ever since.”

“Not all together,” Beau says softly. 

Caleb frowns, “What do you mean?” 

“There was someone else in the beginning,” Fjord tells him, looking over his shoulder at the rest of the group. “His name was Mollymauk.” Caleb watches the rest of the group fall silent at the name. “He died in battle.”

“I’m sorry,” Caleb says quietly. 

Nott shakes her head, “You don’t need to be. It was a while ago. I think he would have liked you.”

“He would have,” Yasha agrees.

“Were you close with him?” Caleb asks the barbarian. 

“He was my best friend,” Yasha smiles sadly. “He gave me purpose when I felt I had none.” 

“I’m sorry for your loss,” Caleb tells her. Yasha gives him a small smile and looks away from him. 

“We met Caddy over here in a forest,” Nott says. As Nott continues to tell him the story of their meeting, with occasional additions by the rest of the group, Caleb sees Jester furiously drawing out of the corner of his eye. She’s always drawing, but this time she keeps glancing up at him which is unsettling, to say the least.

About an hour later when the conversation has dwindled, Jester rips out a page of her sketchbook and leans over to Caleb, “This is for you.” 

Caleb takes the paper and looks at the drawing. It’s of him and his mother, of Veth. In the drawing Veth is looking up at him with a bright smile, pinching his cheek. The Caleb in the drawing is blushing furiously, but his eyes are clearly affectionate. 

“Jester,” he looks back at Jester, “ _thank you_. This is beautiful.” 

She smiles, “I figured you don’t have anything like that, so,” she shrugs. “I’m glad you like it.”

Caleb thanks her again and leans over to Nott, showing her the drawing. Immediately, Nott’s eyes fill with tears and she pulls Jester into a big hug. 

They arrive in Trostenwald that night and find a few rooms in an open inn with a tavern on the ground floor. After a warm dinner, they get three rooms and to Caleb’s relief, he’s sharing one with his mother while the other five debate who gets to room with who. 

The room they end up in is small. There are two beds and a single table between them. There’s a window that overlooks the narrow street and a small dresser shoved into one corner. It’s not much, but it’s a significant improvement from the hard ground outside. Caleb sets his bag on the table and starts to pull out the things he needs for the night: pajamas, silver wire to put across the door and window, and his little stuffed cat. 

“I didn’t know you still had that,” Nott says from where she’s unpacking her own things. 

“Yeah,” Caleb looks down at the worn fabric. “It was the one thing I was allowed to keep from home at the Academy.” 

Nott frowns, “You haven’t said much about your time there, or how you came to be in Tal’dorei.” 

Caleb stiffens, “It’s not that important.” 

“It is to me.” Nott climbs onto Caleb’s bed and sits next to him. “You're my son, Caleb, I care about what’s happened to you.” When Caleb says nothing, she sighs and says, “We don’t have to talk about it right now, but whenever you’re ready I’m here for you.” 

“Okay,” Caleb whispers. He doesn’t look at Nott, but rather at the stuffed cat, running his thumb slowly over the threadbare fabric. Along the cat’s chest is a row of messy stitches he did when a hole appeared. 

After a moment Nott asks, “I know we haven’t really gotten time alone, but how are you liking the group?” 

Caleb smiles, “I like them. They seem like good people.” 

“They are,” Nott agrees. “For the most part.” 

Caleb laughs a little. “Mom?” She looks over at that, with a gentle expression. He shakes his head, “Sorry, I’m still getting used to saying that out loud again.” 

Nott smiles and leans her head against his arm. “I’m still getting used to hearing it.” She puts her hand on his. “When your father and I were taken by the goblins that day, all I could think about was you,” she says softly. “We were terrified that they would chase after you and take you too, but they didn’t. You got away.” Nott stands so she is eye level with Caleb and puts a hand on his cheek. “You’re so grown up and-and I’m sorry that I missed it.” 

Caleb just falls into her arms and lets her hold him, stroke his hair like she did when he was little. “I missed you every day.” 

“I can assure you that your father and I missed you just as terribly.” 

Will you tell me what happened?” Caleb asks softly, lifting his head from her chest. 

She nods and sits back down next to him. 

Nott takes a long breath before beginning. “The goblins took us across a river to their camp. They kept us there for weeks and with each day I knew the chances of us escaping were slimming. Your father and I were weak and frail and we could hardly do anything. I knew that we had to get out, to get back to you but the timing was never right. It took me a year to learn the patterns of the guards and to make sense of what their camp looked like.” Nott sighs. “I don’t know why they kept us alive, they had taken so many people from Felderwin that maybe they were just working their way through all of us.” 

She shakes her head, “I finally found the right time to escape. Your father and I started to run, but he was so weak that I knew he would never make it. So I stopped running and told him to leave without me. I turned back and fought the goblins and gave him time to escape. While I did, I accidentally killed their leader. The leader’s wife was not happy with me and-and she brought this hooded figure to the camp and they dragged me to the river and drowned me.” Nott wipes her eyes. “I died, but then they brought me back as one of the very creatures I hated.” 

Nott takes a shaky breath, “Eventually, I escaped the clan and found the Mighty Nein.” When she looks back over at Caleb, he has tears in his eyes for the hardship his mother has gone through.

“Dad doesn’t know what happened to you?” 

She shakes her head, “I’ve sent him some money and trinkets anonymously, but I haven't been able to bring myself to go see him.” 

“Would you be upset if I wanted to see him again?” Caleb asks nervously. 

“Of course not,” Nott touches his hand. “Of course not. I’m sure that sometime soon we’ll be able to make our way to Felderwin, we need to see what the Gentleman wants from us first.” 

Caleb nods, “Okay. I love you.” 

Nott smiles, “I love you too.” 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! If you enjoyed this chapter please leave a comment because they make my day and make me write so much faster!
> 
> You can find me on tumblr @romeoandjulietyouwish come say hi!


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